"I can only pay my compliments to Bayern Munich and (Jupp) Heynckes because they proved they are a very strong team - and we surely didn't need tonight's performance to confirm that.

"Tonight's game proved that Bayern are a top team and, as I said yesterday, one of the favourite to win the Champions League together with Barcelona and Real Madrid.

"They're a team with great single talents, they're physically very strong, they're very young and they run a lot, they have everything. It's not by chance that they are winning the league with 20 points more than Borussia Dortmund."

Conte refuses to admit defeat though, and insists his side will play 'until the last minute' in an effort to progress to the semi-finals.

"The gap is still big," he said. "But I also want to tell you that we still have to play the second leg.

"And football teaches us you need to play a game until the very last minute before giving a judgement, so let's wait the end of the second leg before making any evaluation on our gap to the top European teams."

As for Gianluigi Buffon, the Juventus captain said Bayern deserved the victory and felt his side were fortunate to escape with just a two-goal deficit.

"It's clear we had some certainties about ourselves, but there's nothing to say tonight, as they thoroughly deserved the victory and had even more chances to hurt us," said the Italian international.

"Our opponents were better on the night that is the truth. At times we had less sharpness under their pressure and I tried to alternate passes with longer kicks."

Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini was also full of praise for their German opponents, admitting his team-mates struggled to cope with Bayern's tempo and intensity.

"We knew it was going to be a difficult match for us," Chiellini told Sky Sport Italia.

"Bayern played at an incredible tempo and we struggled to keep possession when we were trying to build our game from the back.

"We hoped to earn a better result tonight but there are 90 minutes left; we will have to play with more intensity, like Bayern did today."